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\f0\b\fs24 \cf2 2017 Set to Be 1 of 3 Hottest Years on Record\
\b0 by Fiona Harvey\
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\cf2 Nov. 6, 2017 \'96 2017 is set to be 1 of the hottest 3 years on record, provisional data suggests. That confirms yet again a warming trend that scientists say bears the fingerprints of human actions.\
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said temperatures in the 1st 9 months of this year were unlikely to have been\'a0higher than 2016, when there was a strong El Ni\'f1o weather system, but higher than anything before 2015.\
Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the WMO, said: \'93The past 3 years have all been in the top 3 years in terms of temperature records. This is part of a long term warming trend. We have witnessed extraordinary weather, including temperatures topping 50\'b0C in Asia, record-breaking hurricanes in rapid succession in the Caribbean and Atlantic reaching as far as Ireland, devastating monsoon flooding affecting many millions of people, and a relentless drought in East Africa.\'94\
He said further detailed scientific studies would be carried out, but that it was already possible to say many \'93bear the tell-tale sign of climate change\'94 caused by increased greenhouse gas concentrations from human activities, such as burning fossil fuel and deforestation.\
This recent increase in average global temperatures confirms a\'a0renewed warming trend in recent years, which\'a0had slowed its pace slightly in the previous decade, leading some climate skeptics to claim global warming had \'93paused\'94.\
The results were revealed to delegates at the UN\'92s global climate talks being held in Bonn, Germany, this week and next. The\'a0COP23 talks, a follow-up to the landmark Paris agreement of 2015, will focus on a new process by which countries\'92 pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions can be toughened, in line with scientific advice.\
Current pledges\'a0would, according to estimates, leave the world\'a03\'b0C warmer than in pre-industrial times. At that level, sea levels would rise, heat waves and droughts would become more common in large swathes of the globe, and fiercer storms and floods would become more likely.\
Patricia Espinosa, the UN\'92s climate chief, said the talks showed \'93unprecedented momentum\'94. But she warned of the consequences of failure.\
Recent research also found that the levels of CO
\fs20 2
\fs24 in the atmosphere are now\'a0higher than they have been for 800,000 years.\
Scientists reacted with concern to the WMO\'92s findings, which are still provisional and only cover January to September. Martin Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College, London, said: \'93The state of our climate is being reset by humans. What were once 1-in-a-100-year events are now turning into regular events. We see this in terms of extreme weather impacts, with examples from the south of the US this year. For the future, we can expect more of the same.\'94\
Richard Betts, professor of climate impacts at the Met Office Hadley Center, said: \'93We expect developing countries to be hit the hardest in terms of human impact. Flooding will be a particular threat in south Asia, particularly due to increased rainfall and rising sea levels, and partly because of the large and growing numbers of people who have little choice about being in harm\'92s way.\'94\
Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of WMO, said at the Bonn conference that he saw little likelihood of the warming trend being reversed in the short term. \'93This trend can be expected to continue for the coming 50 years. In this system, once you reach a certain level it does not drop soon.\'94\
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\cf2 www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/06/2017-set-to-be-one-of-top-three-hottest-years-on-record?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco}